Information resources, such as textbooks and technical documentation, often employ glossaries (typically located at the end of the resource) to educate an individual concerning certain terms contained within the resource. Usually the author or an editor of the text determines the extent of the glossary. This concept is being applied with equal abundance relative to computer-related resources, such as the various levels of technical documentation concerning operation and configuring operating systems, hardware, peripherals, etc. Glossaries also are employed in various dictionary and encyclopedia applications, such as CD-ROM or Web-based applications. It is also common to provide glossaries associated with other types of documentation which may be posted on the World Wide Web (the “Web”).
For example, many companies post documentation on Web pages to help educate users of their products and/or services. Many pages contain technical terms, some of which the user may not understand. In order for a user to better comprehend certain terms, an online glossary or dictionary may be associated or linked with the particular document set. The glossary usually takes one of two forms.
One type of glossary is in the form of separate page that includes a number terms selected by the document author or another person familiar with the document, with each term being followed by a corresponding definition. However, only a small number of terms usually are provided in the glossary. Consequently, terms not directly pertinent to the subject matter of the document set usually are not provided definitions for the reader. Moreover, since individual glossaries are created for each document set and because different glossaries may share a number of terms, there may be great deal of duplicated efforts and/or inconsistent definitions being provided. Even though a glossary page may be provided, the user may not always know its existence or location. Assuming that an individual is able to find the definition in a glossary page, the individual still must navigate back to originating document to continue reading.
Another type of glossary employs “pop-ups” that appear in response to a user selecting a highlighted word on a document page. In order to provide this functionality, the page author must physically mark each term for which a dictionary definition is to be made available. The author, thus, may mark a given word on one page, but fail to mark the same word on another page. As a greater number of words are marked, an added level of complexity arises related to managing the links to the glossary. In response to a user-selection of a single marked term, it is common for a page author to include within the document the definitions for all of the marked terms on that page. The text of the glossary definitions is usually hidden and only displayed when the user click a highlighted term. As a result, more data than required may be downloaded, thereby slowing down page loading from the server. Because it is impractical and unattractive to mark each word on a page that a user might not understand, only selected terms are marked based on what the author believes will be important to its readers. Consequently, the available glossary for a given page may prove insufficient to meet the needs of each user.